Lukewarm about this. 🤷‍♀️ She does a lot of name dropping and complaining about how awful her parents were, both of which I dislike.🥮

My first Hardy. I‘ve been meaning to read this for years.📖

Too early for this? What do you think? 🤷‍♀️

Such a warm, cozy read. Loving the slow, simple pace. Perfect reading for autumn.🍁

A beautiful, quiet and reflective little book of short pieces that describe the English countryside in Autumn. Something that lovers of nature writing might enjoy. 🍂

There is a lot to take in with this book. I need a second reading at some point but I enjoyed my first read very much. It‘s a raging flood of ideas and issues. A little long winded if I‘m honest but it served a purpose and I wouldn‘t change a thing. A remarkable book and a non-stop flow of quotable sentences. 🫶

A niche book but if you like Shakespeare or Judi Dench, you will probably love it. 🎭

I can see why someone would love this book. It‘s touching and funny in places. But humour is a very individual taste and I didn‘t seem to connect with it in this book. 🫤

I like the slow pace and the sense of place in this book.🌵

I found this to be an emotionally frustrating and exhausting book. But that could be a good or a bad thing. I‘m undecided. 🤷‍♀️

Lots of people in my book club struggled with this book but I loved it. It was a very immersive read for me and I appreciated what the author was doing with the story. I‘ll be thinking about these characters for awhile. 🌟

In my opinion, the short story form is where Elizabeth Bowen really shines. This collection was a wonderful read. 🫶

Re-read of an oldie but a goldie. Very entertaining on audio. 🛤️

This novel has a more involved plot than her previous books. It was quite good, although Bowen‘s writing continues to challenge me. There will be a very beautifully structured sentence followed by a sentence I don‘t even understand. 😆

I was pre- conditioned to like this because The Luminaries is my favourite book. This is no Luminaries but it‘s good in it‘s own way. I really enjoy Catton‘s writing. ✍🏽

I would recommend this but only to those that can appreciate a quiet, well written book with basically no action. The reward is in the details. The writing is excellent but it‘s not for everyone. 🏡

3.5🌟 This was good but I think it could have been better. It was lacking structure and purpose. However I still got quite a bit out of it. It had me googling Dutch art for hours and I learned a lot from it. I don‘t think you would enjoy this book if you weren‘t interested in art at some level. 🎨

The father in this book is one of the most interesting characters I have read in a long time. There is a lot going on in that man. 🛖

What I loved: the history
What I liked: the story
What I hated: the writing which was choppy, written mostly in mono and disyllabic words and was totally lacking in style. I don‘t know why this bothered me so much because most people don‘t seem to have minded it. 🤷‍♀️

A treasure found at a used book fair. Every turn of the page includes a beautiful full page sketch to follow the poem. ⚓️

My 3rd re-reading. This novel never disappoints. It‘s delightful reading. 🌹

Well done audiobook and an interesting story. ⛑️

Memoir? Fiction? Auto-fiction? Not sure what to make of this but it is enjoyable. ✍🏽

The humour might not work for everyone but I thought it was a very enjoyable story. 🐖

I‘m afraid I cannot recommend this book, despite it being about an important topic. I thought it was an organizational mess. I also felt that way about his previous book called Deep Dark Down so clearly this just isn‘t an author for me. I don‘t like his style at all. 😵‍💫

I‘m reading my way through Natalia Ginzburg and so far these two novellas have been my favourite. 🇮🇹

A good book for discussion. It is very bleak but it tells a good story. 🇮🇳

I know the inside of a book is more important than the outside… but isn‘t this a pretty thing? 🌺

I have been listening to this huge essay collection over the last several weeks and I have loved the experience. They are well written and so thought provoking. A excellent reflection on history but surprisingly applicable to our current times. 🤔

A great reading duo. 📕+📕

The end of a run on Toni Morrison. A bit emotionally draining to read them all back to back , but a wonderful way to get to know and understand an author. It was reading time well spent. 📖

It‘s awkward to be the only person posting about this book who didn‘t love it. I thought it was in desperate need of editing and lacked continuity. He touched on so many interesting topics but didn‘t develop any of them. I think it would have worked much better as a collection of connected stories. Disappointed 🫤

Well worth reading if you are a big Morrison fan. I particularly enjoyed the essays where she discusses her own books, but there were also a handful of essays that were very heavy handed. And the themes were a bit repetitive. It‘s still a privilege to read her work. 🏆

A real mix of mood, content and narrative voice in this collection. As usual, some stories worked better for me than others. Overall, I enjoyed it well enough but it won‘t stay with me. ❄️

A novel that is woven together using seven historic events in British history, starting with VE Day. A very pleasant and interesting read. 🇬🇧

What am I reading? 😆😆🤣I think I‘m going to like this.👍💘

How could this possibly be Morrison‘s first book? It is incredibly well done. 😍

Rereading this after 20 years for book club. I forgot how good it is. Excellent for discussion. 🛖

I‘m enjoying this story but I‘m a little unsure of its worthiness for a spot on the Booker Longlist. I still have a fair bit to read so perhaps I‘ll change my mind by the end. 🤷‍♀️

Although I‘m not quite ready for the winter theme, I can‘t say enough about the beauty of this Canadian literary journal. It‘s a lovely thing to own and a lovely thing to read. 🇨🇦

Day at the beach with Stephen King. Such a fun read. 🐉

If you like strong character and family stories, you can‘t go wrong with Ann Patchett. 🍊

This book was both unique and interesting. I love when I find something unusual to read. My only criticism is that I thought the author strayed away from her thesis at times but it was still a pretty good read. 🧮

This is a sweeping historical romance with all the sights and sounds of an exotic India and it appears to be a treasured favourite of many readers. Honestly I found it dragged terribly and was very dated, to the point where I became impatient with it. 🕌

This is a quiet but lovely little book that gives us bits and pieces of the author‘s life woven into the daily journal of a small bookshop in an Italian village. It‘s packed full of book titles and has a slow meandering pace that is perfect for lazy summer afternoon reading. 📖

I loved the story, the style and the atmosphere of this book, although I have to say I thought the ending was weak, especially because there is so much the author could have done with this great story. The last 10% of the book just sort of fizzled out. 🐝

Reading this for book club and we are all struggling. I‘ve done an awful lot of supplementary reading and I know all the academic analysis, but it hasn‘t really helped me to make sense of what the author is doing in this book. I don‘t dislike it. I‘m actually intrigued, but quite frustrated. 🤷‍♀️

Love this literary journal. It‘s expensive for me to order it from the U.K. but it is worth the indulgence. 💗

This collection was fine. They probably shouldn‘t have started the collection with Alice Munro because she was a hard act to follow. Everything else paled by comparison. 🍁

A very easy and relaxing read. I spent as much time googling the art work as I did reading the book. 🖼️